How to export without flattening layers

Could you please post screenshots taken at View > 100% with the pertinent Panels (Toolbar, Layers, Options Bar, …) visible of the layered and the merged image? 

I found out it was because of the effects getting merged with the original image.

By @voltbolt

No, that is not what is happening. Nothing in the original data changes with merging/flattening.

Here's what happens: If your screen image is zoomed out, what you see on screen before merging/flattening may be misleading. To see it correctly before merging, always check at view > 100%.

100% is a significant number. It means that one image pixel is represented by exactly one physical screen pixel. It has nothing to do with size, just pixel ratio.

All adjustment and blending previews are calculated on the basis of the on-screen image, for performance reasons. When you are zoomed out, that means the preview calculations are performed on downsampled data. Downsampling always means softening and blurring, and you get a lot of intermediate pixel values that aren't there in the original data.

Viewing at 100% avoids this, and you see a correct preview before merging. Then you will not see anything change when merging, because it will be correct to begin with. Always check at 100% before merging. The shortcut ctrl+1 should be embedded in muscle memory.

For a "normal" photograph this isn't significant and the effect is usually negligible. But it becomes important with very noisy or binary data - anything where you have sharp pixel-level transitions.

"Some way to export and get the same image I see when I'm editing."

That should be always the case when it comes to visual appearance. When it comes to editability the answer is no as already stated. Can you post example before or image in Photoshop and after or exported image so we can see what is the difference you are talking about?

Hi!

The short answer is no--PNG and JPG both compress their files into one layer, BUT I would highly recommend that once you are done working on the file, Save it as a .sd and then use Save As or Save for Web to create your png or jpg. That way you can always go back to the native file to make corrections.

Michelle